History and character
Hyperpop is a movement of exaggerated, maximalist electronic pop born in the early 2010s in the United Kingdom, mixing pop and avant-garde ideas with elements of rock, hip hop and dance music. Its roots lie mainly in PC Music, the label and art collective founded in London in 2013 by A. G. Cook, with SOPHIE (often cited by critics as a pioneer), Hannah Diamond, GFOTY, Danny L Harle, easyFun and the collaboration with Charli XCX, whom Vice called the “queen” of the style (Vroom Vroom EP, 2016, produced by SOPHIE; Pop 2, 2017; how i'm feeling now, 2020). SOPHIE, with Bipp (2013), Lemonade and the album Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides (2018, with Immaterial), defined its sound design: “plastic” synthetic sounds, rubber, metal, bubbles, latex.
Mass adoption came in 2019 with the viral success of money machine and the album 1000 gecs by 100 gecs (Dylan Brady and Laura Les), and with the “Hyperpop” playlist launched by Spotify in August 2019; the term had been added to Spotify's metadata in 2018 by the analyst Glenn McDonald. TikTok (“Alt TikTok”) and the COVID-19 lockdowns boosted its popularity among Gen Z. Other artists: Dorian Electra, Rina Sawayama (with nu metal and 2000s pop influences), Kim Petras, Caroline Polachek in part, Arca, umru, Ecco2k and Bladee (Drain Gang), Underscores, Frost Children, Jane Remover, glaive, ericdoa, Alice Longyu Gao, Food House. From here came microgenres such as digicore and glitchcore (closely tied to hyperpop), dariacore and hyper-rock.
The scene has strong ties to LGBTQ+ culture, and many artists use vocal modulation to explore gender identity. After its success many rejected the label and critics asked whether the genre was “dead”; its influence remains evident, for example in Charli XCX's album Brat (2024). As Eli Enis wrote in Vice, hyperpop expresses a shared ethos of transcending genres.
Characteristics: heavily processed, Auto-Tuned vocals, pitch-shifted synths, heavy compression and distortion, short tracks, immediate hooks; lyrics that mix a “cute” aesthetic with anguish or irony; references to bubblegum pop, trance, nightcore, eurodance, emo, pop-punk, trap and dubstep.
Scales and keys
In the modes, Roman numerals refer to the scale of the mode; in minor, to the natural minor.
Major (Ionian) — exaggerated bubblegum
- Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (T T S T T T S). In E: E F# G# A B C# D#.
- Characteristic note: major 3rd and leading tone: sugary sweetness, then distorted.
- Chords: I E – ii F#m – iii G#m – IV A – V B – vi C#m – vii° D#dim.
- Use: I–V–vi–IV pop progressions, cartoon melodies, “cute” choruses.
- Example: many PC Music and Charli XCX tracks work on very simple major progressions.
- Mistakes: thinking hyperpop means complex harmony: the complexity is in the timbre.
Natural minor (Aeolian) — the emo side
- Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. In C# minor: C# D# E F# G# A B.
- Characteristic note: b6 (A): emo melancholy.
- Chords: i C#m – III E – iv F#m – VI A – VII B.
- Use: i–VI–III–VII loops in emo-pop and digicore tracks.
Modal borrowing and chromaticism
- bVI and bVII in major (E–C–B: I–bVI–V), chromatic synth passages, continuous pitch bends.
- Major chord on the bVI for an epic trance “swerve.”
Lydian (artificial light)
- Formula: 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7. The #4 gives a suspended “digital” color in crystalline pads.
Pentatonic (hooks)
- Hooks on 3–5 notes of the major pentatonic: childlike chants repeated to the point of obsession.
How to choose
| Mood | Scale |
|---|---|
| Cute, bubblegum | Major |
| Emo, anguish | Aeolian |
| Trance euphoria | Major with bVI–bVII |
| Digital, suspended | Lydian |
Hyperpop often transposes (pitch shifts) entire sections or the vocal by 3–12 semitones: check that the keys of the sections remain compatible, or that the “jolt” is intentional.
Harmony
Function
Elementary pop harmony (I–V–vi–IV, i–VI–III–VII, two chords) used as raw material to be deformed: layered, hyper-compressed chords, pitch bends, glissandi, sudden modulations, drops in which the harmony disappears into a wall of distortion. The contrast between harmonic simplicity and timbral violence is the heart of the style.
Techniques
- Trance supersaws with simple chords and extreme sidechain.
- Abrupt key changes between sections (often by a semitone or a third) and pitch-shifting of the whole mix.
- Distorted 808 pedal under pop chords.
- “Cluster” chords obtained with distortion and bitcrush.
- Genre quotations: pop-punk sections with power chords, ska sections, dubstep sections (100 gecs switches from one genre to another within the same track).
Voicing
Full, bright chords in the high register, distorted power chords, hyper-compressed pads; often everything is summed to mono in the center for impact and then widened.
Typical progressions
| Name | Key | Chords | Degrees | How to use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum axis | E major | E B C#m A | I V vi IV | The simplest pop progression, made extreme by the production. |
| Emo minor | C# minor | C#m A E B | i VI III VII | Emo-pop and digicore melancholy. |
| Trance swerve | E major | E C B | I bVI V | The major bVI gives the “epic” swerve of 2000s trance. |
| Two chords | A major | A F#m | I vi | Minimalist verses: all the work is in the sound design. |
| Quoted pop-punk | D major | D A Bm G | I V vi IV | In distorted power chords: the “rock” section inside the track. |
| Semitone jump | F major → F# major | F C Dm Bb F# C# D#m B | I V vi IV | I V vi IV (nuova) | Final chorus transposed up a semitone with no preparation. |
| 808 pedal | G minor | Gm Eb/G F/G Gm | i VI/i VII/i i | Static distorted bass with chords changing above. |
Rhythm and groove
Great variety within the same track: half-time trap (140–160 felt at 70–80), eurodance and trance four-on-the-floor kick (140–160), drum and bass and breakcore (170–180), pop-punk in eighth notes, sections with no drums. Swing 0%; total quantization; rhythmic glitches (stutter, retrigger, tape stop), sudden accelerations and slowdowns. Often the nominal BPM is high but the ear “feels” half time.
Drums
Kick
Hyper-compressed, distorted kicks, sometimes with a rising pitch envelope; kick and 808 in unison; four on the floor in the trance/eurodance sections; syncopated in trap.
Snare and clap
On 2 and 4 of full time (or on 3 in half time), layered, metallic claps, glitch snare rolls, pitched trap snares.
Hi-hat and percussion
Sixteenth-note hats with triplet and thirty-second-note rolls, metallic and “rubbery” sounds (SOPHIE), samples of objects, bitcrush.
Interaction with bass and vocal
Kick and 808 are a single distorted block; the vocal sits on top, hyper-compressed and bright, often louder than everything else.
By section
Intro: vocal or synth alone; verse: minimal trap; pre: build with snare roll; drop: wall of distortion or supersaw; bridge: section from another genre; final: more extreme drop or stop.
Fills and transitions
Stutter, vocal retrigger, tape stop, pitch-down of the mix, digital glitches, total silence cut abruptly.
Sounds and mistakes
Synthesized and processed samples (OTT, clipper, distortion), “plastic” kicks and claps. Mistakes: “shy” hyperpop with clean sounds; uncontrolled distortion that destroys the vocal.
Bass
- Sound: distorted, saturated 808s, “rubbery” FM and wavetable basses, reese, dubstep wobble.
- Notes: root and octave, very wide 808 slides, glissandi.
- Relationship with the kick: fused kick-808, clipper on the group; extreme sidechain in the trance sections.
- Examples: 100 gecs — money machine (distorted bass), SOPHIE — Immaterial (bouncing synthetic basses).
Harmonic instruments
Trance supersaws, metallic FM synths and “bubbles,” crystalline pads, nightcore plucks, distorted electric guitars (pop-punk, nu metal), acoustic guitar in the emo sections, toy piano, ringtone and jingle samples, vocal chops. Bright voicings in the high register.
Melody and vocals
- Vocals: pitch-shifted upward (nightcore, “chipmunk”), extreme Auto-Tune (retune 0 ms), formant shift to play with the gender of the voice, whispered voices and screamed emo voices in the same track.
- Melody: very simple, repeated pop hooks, chants, cartoon choruses; spoken or rapped verses.
- Backing vocals: layers of the same voice at different pitches (octaves above and below).
- Effects: distortion, bitcrush, vocoder, tempo-synced delay, stutter, short or enormous reverbs.
Instruments
DAW (main instrument), voice with Auto-Tune, synths (FM, wavetable, supersaw), 808s and synth basses, drum machines and processed samples, electric and acoustic guitars, toy piano, vocal chops, digital FX.
Drum patterns
Synths and sounds
- DX7 V — Metallic FM sounds and bubbles: Non-integer frequency ratios and feedback for “SOPHIE-style” timbres.
- CZ V — Phase distortion: Sharp, rubbery digital leads and basses.
- Jup-8 V — Supersaw and pads: Trance chords to hyper-compress with OTT.
- Korg MS-20 V — Distorted leads: Screaming leads and sweeps.
- Prophet-VS V — Digital pads: Crystalline, vector pads.
- Synclavier V — Bells and FM: Bright, metallic timbres.
Song structure
| Section | Bars | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Intro | 2–4 | Vocal or hook alone |
| Verse | 8 | Minimal trap or acoustic guitar |
| Pre | 4–8 | Build |
| Chorus/drop | 8 | Wall of synths and distortion |
| Verse 2 | 8 | Different genre |
| Chorus | 8 | |
| Bridge | 8 | Radical change (ska, metal, ballad, dnb) |
| Final drop | 8–16 | More extreme, possible key jump |
| Outro | 1–2 | Hard cut |
Short tracks: 1:50–3:00.
Mixing and mastering
Sonic goal
Deliberately extreme: everything loud, bright and compressed, but with the vocal always legible and a powerful low end. Distortion is a controlled aesthetic. References: SOPHIE — Immaterial, Charli XCX — Vroom Vroom, 100 gecs — money machine, Charli XCX — 360, Underscores — Spoiled Little Brat.
Kick and 808
HP 25 Hz; kick-808 on a single bus with clipper (2–4 dB) and distortion; sub 40–55 Hz; presence 1–2 kHz; mono below 150 Hz.
Clap, snare, percussion
HP 200 Hz; OTT (extreme multiband compression) 20–50%; parallel bitcrush; transient shaper; wide pan for metallic sounds.
Synths and supersaws
HP 200–300 Hz; OTT 30–60%; distortion; sidechain 6–10 dB in the trance sections; dynamic dip from the vocal at 2–5 kHz (Soothe2/dynamic Pro-Q 3); wide stereo with one layer in the center.
Guitars
HP 100 Hz, heavy distortion, hard L/R doubles, −3 dB at 400 Hz.
Vocal
- Chain: Auto-Tune (retune 0–10 ms, humanize 0) → pitch/formant (+3/+12 semitones for nightcore) → EQ (HP 120 Hz, presence +3/+5 dB at 3–6 kHz, air +4 dB) → heavy serial compression (15–20 dB total: 1176 + OTT + LA-2A) → parallel distortion/saturation → strong de-esser → tempo-synced delay and short reverb.
- Level: the vocal remains the first element of the mix even in the drops.
- Automation: pitch, formant and distortion that change per section.
FX and glitch
Stutter and retrigger on a dedicated bus with limiter.
Buses and groups
Drum bus with clipper and light OTT; music bus with ducking from the vocal; vocal bus with saturation.
Sidechain
Kick → synths, pads, reverbs (6–10 dB); vocal → music bus.
Master
Chain EQ → light OTT (optional) → clipper 2–4 dB → limiter. Target −6/−3 LUFS integrated (among the loudest masters out there; some hyperpop tracks are deliberately distorted in the master), true peak ≤ −1 dBTP (often disregarded on purpose: decide consciously), PLR 4–7 dB.
Common mistakes
Vocal lost in the distortion; “random” distortion without intention; sub that collapses in the clipper; tiring the listener without contrast (even hyperpop needs empty moments).
Mix reference tracks
SOPHIE — Bipp (2013); Charli XCX — Vroom Vroom (2016); SOPHIE — Immaterial (2018); 100 gecs — money machine (2019); Charli XCX — 360 (2024).
Reference listening
- SOPHIE — Bipp (2013)
- Hannah Diamond — Every Night (2014)
- Charli XCX — Vroom Vroom (2016)
- SOPHIE — Immaterial (2018)
- 100 gecs — money machine (2019)
- Dorian Electra — Flamboyant (2019)
- Charli XCX — claws (2020)
- Rina Sawayama — XS (2020)
- Charli XCX — 360 (2024)